A Truly Sad Day

Milton Friedman has died today. I leave you with the words of Edward Crane, president of the Cato Institute, on Friedman:

"Here's a guy who won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in monetary theory and he was a great Chicagoan, a great empiricist and theoretician of economics. But ultimately, what Milton believed in was human liberty and he took great joy in trying to promote that concept....Milton would say, 'Maybe I did well and maybe I led the battle but nobody ever said we were going to win this thing at any point in time. Eternal vigilance is required and there have to be people who step up to the plate, who believe in liberty, and who are willing to fight for it.' ...In my view he was the greatest champion of human liberty in my lifetime, certainly in the 20th century. And he didn’t slack off in the 21st century."

Israel and Hezbollah at war...

Apparently Israel and Hezbollah are in the beginning of a war with each other in southern Lebanon. As usual, much of the world is complaining that Israel is using excessive force against people who have openly stated that their primary goal in life is the destruction of Israel. I say this because Hezbollah is supported ideologically and financially by Iran, a nation whose prime minister has called for Israel to "be wiped off the map."

It would be fairly safe to say that this "war" is not just about the two soldiers Hezbollah has kidnapped. No, this is a retaliatory act for the terror that has been initiated against Israel for decades now. Appeasement has been tried time and time again. Suicide bombings were launched against Israel to get Israeli forces to withdrawal from Lebanon. Israel withdrew. The attacks continued. There are numerous other acts conducted by these anti-Israeli forces that could be mentioned, but lets get to the point. After a country's people endure neverending attacks at the hands of unapologetic aggressors, there comes a time when diplomacy needs to be thrown out the window and action needs to be taken. Why? Because diplomacy and appeasement do not work if the people who are attacking you will not comply with agreements or settle for anything less than your destruction.

Cessation of the violence in Lebanon and Israel would presumably be preferred by all, but for this to happen, those who agitate the peace process need to be eliminated. Hezbollah has proven that it's not interested in peacefully coexisting with Israel, thus Israel has begun military action for what it believes is necessary to protect itself from continuing terrorist attacks. An end to the current situation may be very difficult because, as US ambassodor John Bolton said today, "no one has explained how you conduct a ceasefire with a group of terrorists."

No "Bushitting" at G-8

I absolutely love hearing what is never supposed to be heard in politics or diplomacy, that being a man's honest (and politically incorrect) opinion. In the case I'm referring to, President Bush voiced his disgust with Syria in Hezbollah today at the G-8 Summit as follows:

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over," Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll.

I wish he'd say shit in this manner more often. It might not be PC, but at least people wouldn't think he was a stumbling idiot.

A matter of basic accounting...

Many fret about our national debt, yet they fail to look at the overall picture. As Jerry Bowyer points out:

Imagine for a moment that you are a financial planner and you are advising a family that makes about $130,000 per year. Their total assets, including a house, stocks, and bonds, add up to about $660,000. They owe roughly $130,000. Over the past three years their assets have been growing in faster increments than their liabilities. So, should you be worried about these people? Neither would I. Now, if you were to add 8 zeroes to these numbers, you’d be dealing with an actual family in the real world — the Unites Sates of America.

You can read the doomsday articles in the media and hide under your table with your money, other valuables, and shotgun in hand. Or, you can apply the even the most basic principles from economics and accounting 101 to reach a more logical conclusion...

What do 26.2 miles have in common with fun?

It must be nice to ponder running a sub-2:30 marathon "for fun." But what else should we expect from a guy that has run a 3:43 mile.

Stay alive... don't drink and drive.

I figured I'd go into some in-depth analysis on some breaking news. Here goes: HAHAHAHA!!!

My favorite historian's thoughts on the Iranian nuclear situation.

Oh, and on a totally different note, there's this local high school band named "The Question?" playing at Penny Lane Coffeehouse on Saturday. I saw them rock a two hour set at the Earth Day Festival this past weekend. Namaste followed them but, unfortunately, I had to meet prior engagements.